High‐pressure processing‐induced conformational changes during heating affect water holding capacity of myosin gel

Summary This study aimed to investigate the effects of high‐pressure processing ( HPP ) (0.1‐400 MP a for 9 min) on the water holding capacity ( WHC ) of heat‐induced rabbit myosin gel and structural changes during thermal treatment (25–75 °C). HPP at 100 MP a significantly increased the WHC ( P < 0.05) and formed more regular and homogeneous three‐dimensional network. Myosin tails at 100 MP a unfolded completely during the thermal treatment, which was beneficial to form a high WHC gel network. However, myosin pressurised at 200 MP a and above formed a weak gel. Their heads were already aggregated before heating, preventing from subsequent thermal denaturation and aggregation. With the temperature increasing, unfolding of myosin tails was not sufficient for a filamentous network formation. These results suggested that HPP could modify the myosin structure and affect the gel formation during heating. The 100 MP a was the optimum pressure level for the WHC of rabbit myosin gel.